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Directv beeing the Beetle in this caseNeed i remind everyone that dish as more HD

My In-laws had a Dish DVR, it was the only DVR that I've seen that I couldn't figure out, and I've used Time Warner Scientific Atlantas, Tivo and several versions of DirecTV boxes. They seemed to make things more complex and clunky than necessary.

Directv beeing the Beetle in this caseNeed i remind everyone that dish as more HD

You are judging #1 based only on the total number of HD channels? What about all of the other variables? What about the one that counts the most, the most subscribers?

It is not the total number of HD channels; it is the channels they offer that you want to watch. I currently only watch about 30% of the HD channels Direct currently carries anyway. Why would it be important if they add 10 more HD channels if I will never watch them to begin with. I can honestly say there may only about about 2 channels in HD that Dish currently carries that I may watch once in a blue moon. The others I would never watch at all.

Actually I would compare Dish to my wife's Civic and DirecTV to my Dodge Ram.

My wife's Civic has all of the bells and whistles with more basic items, including navigation and leather seats (equivalent to having more of the basic channels). My truck has a more powerful engine and is able to do the things I need it to do that the Civic cannot do, like transport heavy items, and tow things (equivalent to providing the sports packages not available with Dish).

Let me also add that my wife's car gets much better gas millage (equivalent to lower base package prices with Dish), but I spend less total money in gas for the truck as it is driven a lot less (equivalent to not having to pay all those additional higher fees with Dish). If we did have the same setup with Dish that we do with Direct, we will actually be paying more for Dish than Direct even though their base package will be less money (determined by the actual package price not the promotional price).

Dish is defiantly not for me,i was thinking of it years ago and had installers come and see if i had a los,instead of using compass they walked around with sat dishes hooked up to signal meters and told me i would need two dishes. I am glad i didn't make that mistake.

I just tried calling dish because I was interested in the hopper and didn't know about some of the features until I saw some posts in this thread.

I am interested in Dish because I also am interested in the Tailgater that they have. It gets HD and is less expensive than the Winegard option I have been looking at.

All that being said, the first guy I spoke with sounded like he could speak english, but he didn't even understand what I said to him. The second guy I got transfered to I could barely understand, but he did answer my question.
Usually I am used to running into that with support, but definitely not sales! Poor showing Dish, poor showing indeed!

It totally soured me from even considering calling back in a month when it is supposed to be available.

Actually I would compare Dish to my wife's Civic and DirecTV to my Dodge Ram.

My wife's Civic has all of the bells and whistles with more basic items, including navigation and leather seats (equivalent to having more of the basic channels). My truck has a more powerful engine and is able to do the things I need it to do that the Civic cannot do, like transport heavy items, and tow things (equivalent to providing the sports packages not available with Dish).

Let me also add that my wife's car gets much better gas millage (equivalent to lower base package prices with Dish), but I spend less total money in gas for the truck as it is driven a lot less (equivalent to not having to pay all those additional higher fees with Dish). If we did have the same setup with Dish that we do with Direct, we will actually be paying more for Dish than Direct even though their base package will be less money (determined by the actual package price not the promotional price).

I always get tickled about the which has more HD comments. They are so funny. D* has more of some I watch and E* has more of different ones I watch. IOW, neither one has all the channels in HD that I want. For instance E* has BBCA in HD that I really wish D* had, but then D* has Showtime Extreme in HD and since boxing has been added to that one, I wish E* had that one too. The facts are that neither service has all the channels in HD that I want to watch. And frankly, neither has the edge on it either.

I could literally switch every day and notice something I missed from the other.

Because of what I watch, when I watch it and how I watch it, the Dish Hopper/Joey is a great fit for me. I could replace 3 HR24s with one Hopper and one Joey and be good to go. One thing I would notice real quick is how fast the Dish gear is compared to the D* DVRS.

Dish is a fine service. There are many others. I'm satisfied with DirecTV and have been for years.

Sometimes DirecTV is king of the hill and better than all other service providers. I'm thinking specifically of SD picture quality and channel selection back in the '90s, their commitment to HD in the middle part of the last decade, and over the years regarding sports programming. Other times they are average or even below average, like during the first two years of the HR20 DVR and regarding their current selection of HD basic channels.

But am I going to float with the wind? No. In the long run, I like the features, channel selection and performance I get with DirecTV. They don't call it a committment for nothing.